Nov 22, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2006
Contact:
Angela Stephens, Assistant Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan, independent federal agency, today marks the 25thanniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief , which was adopted Nov. 25, 1981.
"The right of everyone to the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is universal, as the unanimous adoption of the Declaration on Religious Intolerance showed once again," said USCIRF Chair Felice D. Gaer. "Regrettably, violations of this universal right continue to be committed across the globe. The occasion of the 25th anniversary is a call to all governments to intensify their efforts to protect freedom of religion or belief at home and to advance respect for religious freedom abroad. The ability of people throughout the world to live in peace and freedom depends on it."
he Declaration on Religious Intolerance proclaims that:
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have a religion or whatever belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
The Declaration also calls on all states to take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination and to combat intolerance on the grounds of religion or belief.
"The Declaration on Religious Intolerance recognizes that the infringement of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or whatever belief has contributed to instability and 'kindl[ed] hatred between peoples and nations,'" commented Gaer. "This occasion reminds us that securing greater protection of this right is essential to address some of the most pressing problems facing the international community today, such as religious extremism and terrorism."
While the right to freedom of religion was proclaimed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Declaration on Religious Intolerance reinforced the importance of freedom of religion or belief. The UN Commission on Human Rights in 1986 appointed a Special Rapporteur to monitor and report publicly on UN member states' implementation of the Declaration on Religious Intolerance. The current Special Rapporteur is Ms. Asma Jahangir of Pakistan.
In order to demonstrate their commitment to implementing the principles embodied in the Declaration on Religious Intolerance, states should undertake the following, with the full participation of nongovernmental organizations and individuals:
- Review laws and regulations to bring them into conformity with international standards regarding freedom of religion or belief;
- Improve practical implementation of guarantees of religious freedom at all levels of government;
- Provide effective mechanisms for individuals to make complaints and seek remedies for violations of this right, and hold accountable perpetrators of abuses, including public officials, or those who act at their behest;
- Review state educational textbooks and curricula, as well as practices of state-controlled media, to remove or end expressions of hatred and intolerance based on religion or belief;
- Support the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, including by responding to communications of concern, inviting the Rapporteur to visit the country, and implementing the recommendations resulting from such visits;
- Support efforts by international and regional organizations to monitor and publicly report on violations of freedom of religion or belief, as well as assistance programs for governments and non-governmental organizations to strengthen legal protections and cultural respect for religious freedom;
- Review their foreign policies to advance respect for freedom of religion or belief through bilateral and multilateral relations; and
- Disseminate widely the Declaration on Religious Intolerance and other information on human rights.
The Declaration on Religious Intolerance is part of a body of international human rights standards that guides the work of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. USCIRF is unique as the only independent government agency devoted solely to monitoring religious freedom conditions worldwide and making recommendations to advance that right. It was created by the U.S. Congress under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). Other countries might consider setting up such an independent government body. More information about USCIRF and IRFA can be found at www.uscirf.gov .
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.
Felice D. Gaer,Chair
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Nov 16, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2006
Contact:
Angela Stephens, Assistant Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is closely monitoring the outcome of a court case in Cairo that will consider whether an Egyptian Baha'i couple will be able to obtain national identity documents without having to deny or falsify their faith.
On November 20, the Supreme Administrative Court in Cairo will convene a hearing on the Egyptian government's appeal of a lower court decision that would have allowed members of the Baha'i faith in Egypt to obtain a national identity card and to list their religious affiliation. The Commission urges the U.S. government to encourage the Egyptian government to reverse its discriminatory policy of requiring Egyptian citizens to list their religious affiliation, restricting the choice to one of the three state recognized religions - Judaism, Christianity, or Islam - on national identity documents.
"Current Egyptian policy essentially turns Baha'is into non-citizens because without an identity card they cannot gain access to government services like education and employment, or engage in basic financial transactions, such as opening a bank account or obtaining a driver's license. It is even illegal to be in public without a card," said Commission chair Felice D. Gaer. "This policy is highly discriminatory and is incompatible with international standards. The current court case provides the Egyptian government with an opportunity to change its policy and omit mention of religious affiliation from identity documents or to make optional any mention of religious affiliation," said Gaer.
Egypt requires all citizens to obtain and carry a national identity card, including listing one's religious affiliation, and only permits one of three choices. This policy:
- runs contrary to Article 40 of the Egyptian Constitution which states that: "All citizens are equal before the law. They have equal public rights and duties without discrimination between them due to race, ethnic origin, language, religion or creed."
- violates Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Egypt is a party. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that no one can be "compelled to reveal [his or her] adherence to a religion or belief." Furthermore, in a 2004 report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief stated that mention of religion on government identity cards is at "variance with the freedom of religion or belief that is internationally recognized and protected" and that Egypt's policy of excluding "any mention of religions other than Islam, Christianity or Judaism would appear to be a violation of international law."
- is inconsistent with the practice of many other countries in the region where Islam is the state religion and/or a source of legislation. Countries in the region that either do not require religious affiliation or do not list it at all on national identity cards include Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates.
In April of this year, a lower Egyptian administrative court ruled that a Baha'i couple should be permitted to identify their religious affiliation on official government documents. This positive development was short-lived, as the Interior Ministry appealed the ruling on advice from religious authorities and some parliamentary members. A higher court suspended the original decision in May, leaving the Baha'i community in limbo until the Supreme Administrative Court rules on the appeal. In August, Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, a government-appointed advisory body, held an unprecedented public symposium in Cairo focused solely on the Egyptian government's policy that requires citizens to list their religion on national identification cards. At the symposium, human rights and civil society groups testified that the Egyptian government should reverse its policy.
The Baha'i community in Egypt, which has been banned from practicing its religion for decades, continues to face severe challenges. A 1960 Presidential decree stripped Baha'is of legal recognition and as a result, many in the community of less than 2,000 have no valid identity documents and cannot obtain or renew passports, marriage licenses, birth certificates, or death certificates. Almost all community members are known to the state security services, and many are regularly subject to surveillance and other forms of harassment. Furthermore, Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Center has issuedfatwas in recent years urging the continued ban on the Baha'i community and condemning Baha'is as apostates.
For more information, see USCIRF's Annual Report.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.
| Felice D. Gaer, Chair • Michael Cromartie, Vice Chair • Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair • Nina Shea, Vice Chair • Preeta D. Bansal • Archbishop Charles J. Chaput • Khaled Abou El Fadl • Richard D. Land • Bishop Ricardo Ramirez • Ambassador John V. Hanford III, Ex-Officio • Joseph R. Crapa, Executive Director |
Nov 13, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2006
Contact:
Angela Stephens, Assistant Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240, ext. 114
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan, independent federal agency, expressed strong disappointment today that the State Department dropped Vietnam from the list of "countries of particular concern" (CPC) that are designated under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 because of their governments' systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom. Vietnam has been designated a CPC since 2004.
"Violations such as forced renunciation of faith and new arrests and detentions of religious leaders continue in Vietnam. Vietnam has released some religious prisoners and promised legal reforms, but the improvements made by Vietnam are, as yet, insufficient to warrant removing Vietnam from the list," said USCIRF Chair Felice D. Gaer. "The CPC designation of Vietnam has been a positive incentive for engagement on religious freedom concerns. Lifting the designation removes that incentive."
Evidence available to the Commission from sources inside Vietnam indicate that religious prisoners remain confined, only a fraction of the churches closed since 2001 have been re-opened, forced renunciations of faith continue in many different provinces, and Vietnam's new laws on religion are being used to detain or intimidate religious leaders who refuse affiliation with the government-approved religious organizations. In addition, the government remains highly suspicious of Montagnard and Hmong Protestants, Vietnamese Mennonites, followers of Hoa Hao Buddhism, and leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. Abuses and restrictions occur less frequently than in the past, however, there remain severe concerns for all of Vietnam's diverse religious communities.
"The Commission is deeply disappointed that Vietnam has not been re-designated a CPC," Gaer said. The Commission recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging that she maintain Vietnam as a CPC.
Under IRFA, the Secretary of State must take into consideration the Commission's recommendations regarding CPCs. The Commission delivers these recommendations to the President, Secretary of State and Congress annually on May 1.
The Commission welcomes the designation of Uzbekistan as a CPC, which the Commission recommended earlier this year. The Uzbek government continues to exercise a high degree of control over the practice of the Islamic religion and to crack down harshly on Muslim individuals, groups, and mosques that do not conform to state-prescribed practices or that the government claims are associated with extremist political programs. This has resulted in the imprisonment of thousands of persons in recent years, many of whom are denied the right to due process. There are credible reports that many of those arrested continue to be tortured or beaten in detention, despite official Uzbek promises to halt this practice. Moreover, Uzbekistan has a highly restrictive law on religion that severely limits the ability of religious communities to function, leaving over 100 religious groups currently denied registration. The government of Uzbekistan faces threats to its security, but these threats do not excuse or justify the scope and harshness of the government's ill treatment of religious believers nor the continued practice of torture, which reportedly remains widespread.
The Commission also welcomes the redesignation of Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan as CPCs. The Commission will closely monitor Saudi policies to improve "religious practice and tolerance" which the State Department announced in July following bilateral discussions with the Saudi government. These Saudi government policies claim a willingness to improve religious freedom conditions despite the fact that many stated commitments in the past have not resulted in specific actions, nor have they resulted in measurable improvements.
The Commission was disappointed, however, that Pakistan and Turkmenistan, which the Commission recommended for CPC designation, were not designated.
The government of Pakistan continues to provide an inadequate response to vigilante violence frequently perpetrated by Sunni Muslim militants against Shi'as, Ahmadis, Hindus, and Christians. Discriminatory legislation effectively bans many of the activities of the Ahmadi community. Blasphemy allegations, routinely false, result in the lengthy detention, imprisonment of, and sometimes violence against Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus, as well as Muslims, some of whom have been sentenced to death. Belated efforts to curb extremism through reform of Pakistan's thousands of Islamic religious schools appear to have had little effect thus far.
Turkmenistan, among the most repressive states in the world today, allows virtually no independent religious activity. In addition to severe government restrictions that effectively leave most, if not all, religious activity under strict-and often arbitrary-state control, Turkmen President Niyazov's ever-escalating personality cult has become a quasi-religion to which the Turkmen population is forced to adhere. His self-published work of "spiritual thoughts," called Rukhnama, is required reading in all schools. In addition, copies of Rukhnama must be given equal prominence to the Koran and the Bible in mosques and churches.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.
| Felice D. Gaer,Chair•Michael Cromartie,Vice Chair•Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair•Nina Shea,Vice Chair•Preeta D. Bansal•Archbishop Charles J. Chaput•Khaled Abou El Fadl•Richard D. Land•Bishop Ricardo Ramirez•Ambassador John V. Hanford III,Ex-Officio•Joseph R. Crapa,Executive Director |